It was a tough week after losing Rascal, aka the Bosun. The three of us had been living together in a very small space and those first few days we "saw" him everywhere. And it was hard not to think he'd be waiting for us on the settee when we'd open the salon door coming back from dinner or an errand. And, irony of ironies (or maybe not), the boat adjacent to us at our very next port of call was named Rascal. He's still keeping watch.
Nonetheless we did manage to get a lot of errands done, enjoy meals with friends, and explore the Charleston area over the five and a half days we were there. Our numerous errands included grocery shopping, trips to the pharmacy, hair appointments for each of us, a bit of clothes shopping, laundry, and sadly, taking all of the Bosun's supplies to an animal shelter. We also worked with an electronics guy to fine tune our auto pilot and had the boat detailed for the first time on the trip (recommendation is once a quarter--we stretched to six months).
We left the detailers to their task (I'm sure they were glad we weren't hanging over them) and headed to Boone Hall Plantation outside of Mount Pleasant. We found a Mexican food truck on the way; I had shrimp tacos and the Admiral had a chicken quesadilla--for breakfast--Yum!
Major John Boone established Boone Hall Plantation in 1681 and it grew to over 4000 acres growing rice, and indigo before shifting to cotton and pecans. It is renowned for its Avenue of Live Oaks, planted in 1743, all of which have survived to the current day except one.
Of course, all of its growth took place on the backs of enslaved people who also produced millions of bricks from clay found on its property and supplied them for many of the stately homes and commercial buildings in Charleston and beyond. The owners did allow the slaves to use defective and broken bricks to build their own homes which resulted in the Boone Hall enslaved having much better homes than many of their peers on other plantations.
Boone Hall also used brick to create its smoke house, used to preserve meat for months at a time.
Today, the McRae family owns the plantation which, while it has shrunk to 750 acres, has continuously produced crops for over 320 years. Today's produce includes strawberries, watermelon, corn, squash, tomatoes and a variety of other vegetables. The McRae's have permanently conserved 600 of the 750 acres through conservatiion easements and have also spent a considerable amount of money restoring and maintaining the historic structures on the site. At $30/visitor and hundreds if not thousands of visitors per day, tourism also provides the plantation with a huge source of revenue. Below is the former cotton gin building which has been restored and converted to a visitor center and museum.
The plantation also showcases GullaGeechee culture, an amalgam of languages and cultures from the countries of origin of the southeastern US slaves (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea and Angola) and their shared experience in captivity and forced labor. We heard a wonderful talk on the Gulla Geechee then and now given by a woman with a wonderful voice and an amazing sense of warmth for all people. We also talked with a woman making tradional baskets and saw a blue bottle tree believed to ward off evil spirits by capturing and containing them.
Though we have been to Charleston a number of times, we had never taken the ferry to Fort Sumter, a deficiency which we remedied this trip. Charleston, the port of entry for over 40% of the slaves imported to the United States, led the secession of the Confederacy from the Union and its bombardment of Fort Sumter arguably started the Civil War. The Confederates seized the fort in 1861 and, although the Union had the fort under siege for the duration, the Confederates held the fort until the end of the war in 1865.
I mentioned meals with friends. We had a delightful dinner with Lee and Ann Cotton and a pleasant lunch with Ofer Gneezy and Christine McLaughlin--all good friends we had made while thinking about moving to Charleston a few years ago. I also had dinner with Craig Tallberg, the owner of Coastal Carolina Yachts who sold us Katahdin and who is a good friend. Craig provided us with dock space for the week at Safe Harbor Bristol marina. Docked next to us was a 2020 Sabre 45, a boat I wish I had never met. Craig invited us to take a look at the boat at our convenience. Curiosity killed the cat and we enjoyed exploring the larger, more comfortable, and better appointed vessel. Of course Craig invited us to stay an extra day and do a sea trial--who could refuse? And, both of us fell in love with the boat--a big step up in technology, ease of handling, visibility underway and space over Katahdin. But despite huge temptation, prudence ruled the day and we are sticking with the practical Katahdin for now.
We had to leave Charleston and put space between ourselves and temptation. With some serious shoal areas between us and our next port, Georgetown, SC, we left the harbor at the first hint of light. The early departure afforded us a beautiful sunrise over Charleston Bay.
The 60 nautical mile cruise to Georgetown again inspired. Seemingly endless wetlands punctuated by forested hillocks hosted laughing and ring-billed gulls, cormorant, anhinga, great blue heron, great egret, brown pelicans, kingfisher, terns, a bald eagle, and numerous waders and pips. We saw a flotilla of thousands of cormorant--never seen anything remotely like it except for snowgeese on the St. Lawrence in Quebec. And, on one beach, we saw hundred of gulls, cormorant, and pelicans all intermingled and crowded together. They clearly have not received the memo that DEI is out.
Georgetown is a lovely historic village with a vibrant downtown immediately adjacent to our marina. It may inspire its own blog. 'til then.
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